Friday, 25 May 2012

Some of you may have already seen this posted over on TMP but, in case you haven't, Ravenstar Studios has announced a Memorial Day Weekend Sale:

Memorial Day 20% off sale
Hey guys , a lot of people were not able to get in on the Spring Sale so I am having a 20% off Memorial Day sale this coming weekend; Friday, Sat,and Sunday. This is for the following lines: Cold Navy, Newstar 1, 15mm Landcore, BSG and TinMen lines. Also the larger 1/60th scale TAM mechs, Trek lines and Galactic Star Command ships are good for the sale too. If you don't have my price lists or need pics just contact me at ravenstarstudios@charter.net

You can check out Ravenstar's blog for details. I found that once I had made a note of what I actually wanted, a quick email to Ravenstar at the above email address got me a conformation of price and postage and a Paypal invoice.

A New Shiney from Khurasan Miniatures

Jon announced the release of Teacup Tornado - a new Hero of the Sepulvedan Resistance - a couple of days ago on TMP. You can read more about her on the Khurasan Miniatures Blog.

Frankly, I am amazed at the level of detail and the energy in this figure's pose - without a reference (for which you'll have to go see Khurasan's blog - I'm probably already in trouble for using Jon's photo without permission) I would have sworn that either Jon was moving back into 28mm, or I was looking at one of Hasslefree Miniatures amazing character figures.

Now, some folks aren't too thrilled by the ultra-action pose but if you're looking for a character figure for The Department or Blasters and Bulkheads or even Snapshot, this little lady could be for you.

And a Convention

The Angry Lurker posted concerning a relatively new convention in the south of England - Broadside 2012, hosted by the Milton Hundred Wargames Club. Sounds like these guys have been rather let down by two of the three major wargames magazines regarding the advertising of the show.

Might not be terribly 15mm or terribly Science Fiction - though I see that MJ Figures, Brigade Models, Ainsty Castings and Mongoose Publishing are listed amongst the traders planning to be there - but three quid to go see some lovely tables with lovely figures? Sounds like a bargain to me. Wish I wasn't 12,000 miles away in the other hemisphere.

Friday, 18 May 2012

Place an order for any science fiction product on 15mm.co.uk (any HOF,SHM,Laserburn, 6mm, science fiction rulebook) of any value from one miniature to an entire army or array of books and we will automatically include the Space Jackers in your package free of charge!

This free Laserburn 15mm set of miniatures consists of FIVE figures, three in space suits and two droids (codes 203,205,206,601,603). A great little set for use in many games and universes including USE ME, Alien Squad Leader, HOF Fire-Team and Laserburn itself. You can place as many orders as you like and each will automatically contain this free set. But we will supply only one free set per order.

You can combine this offer with any other, meaning you can use a valid discount code, you can also purchase the HOF Fire-Team Dropship Horizon Bundle and so on in the same order. Go on...get into space!

The poses are a bit... retro (at least by 15mm standards), but they are very faithful reproductions of the popular 28mm range.

Next, we have tons of new goodies from Khurasan Miniatures.

The long-anticipated Earthdoom range is now on the web store. The Corsair Battle Suits and alien Intruders (pictured above) are the first of many promised releases in this range!

The End Times post-apocalyptic range has been updated with The Infected - transhuman savages. Even if you're not a post-apoc player, these would be great proxies for Serenity Reavers or the creatures from Pandorum.

Gamecraft Minis has updated their range of official Tomorrow's War buildings. The Structures For The Humans series now includes a variety of really cool elevated walkways and a raised landing platform. And a second faction, the Marshborn Crusties, now have their own elevated gantries and multi-story buildings.

Brigade Models is steadily upscaling their vehicle range to fit with most current 15mm figures. The M-83 Curtis Hover Tank (pictured above) adds some heavy firepower to the American Republic.

And finally, Combat Wombat has added a range of building accessories and street furniture. These bits are becoming quite popular - excellent for converting electrical boxes, plastic storage containers, or even card/foamcore buildings.

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

The Oddzial Osmy 15mm Sci Fi range has two new packs - New Vistula Legion snipers and Insurgent LMGs. These were actually announced a couple weeks ago, but I wanted to wait until they were available from both suppliers before posting this news.

Here's a look at the NVL Snipers, which would be great in any light human force:

And the Insurgent LMGs:

I'm not personally a huge fan of near-future games, but this range continues to impress me. The Insurgents make great spaceport thugs or mercs, and the NVL is becoming the perfect 15mm proxy for 40K Imperial Guard. Both new packs are available in the USA from PicoArmor, and in the UK from Fighting 15s.

"It's that time again! As most of you know, we only have two sales a year (which surprisingly coincides with my daughters tuition : ) ), and we like to make them big! So, from Today until May 13th, everything on the site is 20% off! Yes, you heard right, 20% off! Use code rebelspring when checking out to get the discount!

Earthforce Drop Troopers - painted by Jeff Racel

Note: Every year, we start selling out of packs quickly. This usually has some customers upset that they have missed out. So, this year, we will keep all of the packs available in the store. We will ship out what we have in stock, and "back order" the items we do not have in stock. Once we get these back order packs in, we will ship them out. That way, everyone can take advantage of the sale!

Saturday, 5 May 2012

The official Tomorrow's War figures by Ground Zero Games (previewed here a few weeks ago) are now available!

DPRG Regular Army

These are still "sample packs;" the final contents will probably change as the factions are completed. But these are still great squads for small games, or a way to perfect your painting scheme for the larger force.

There are three variants of the mech, along with three weapons/accessory packs. These are promised to be the first of several new mecha for this range. Check out this thread on TMP for some background information and assembly tips. I'll definitely pick a few of these up!

Thursday, 3 May 2012

Ravenstar Studios is having a spring sale - 20% off everything (including the Land Core 15mm Vehicle range) through Saturday, 5 May.

The sale is accompanied by a new addition to the 15mm Land Core range: the Congo Grav Pickup.

The Congo includes both a missile launcher and a utility crane. This makes it ideal for general civilian use, as a military support vehicle, or even as a futuristic insurgent "technical truck." I'll definitely pick up a few for my Blasters & Bulkheads starport.

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

When I bought my copy of the new HOF Fire Team rules, I picked up all three of 15mm.Co.Uk's official tile sets. Very glad I bought these! The quality is excellent - very detailed artwork printed on uncut glossy photo stock. The actual battle boards give you a nice variety for your HOF-FT games, and you get a ton of assorted street and room furniture, buildings, junk piles, barricades, and other goodies. I've played around with quite a few paper terrain items (free and commercial) in the past, but none that have looked so good "in the flesh". When you see this in person, you want to play a game on these!

I wanted to make sure these would stand up to the rigors of my rather ogrish gaming and storage habits. If you're careful with your toys, the paper used for these tiles would last quite a long time on its own. But mounting them onto a harder stock seemed like a wise decision for someone like me. It was a simple and quick project, but well worth the time and effort.

Here's the raw materials for my little project:

The HOFFT Tile Sets (obviously!)

Spray Adhesive (or you could use glue sticks, if you don't have a proper location for using aerosols)

Posterboard, mounting board, foamcore, or whatever else you're using for backing. I found a very rigid sheet of mounting board at a local Hobby Lobby - 28" x 44" for about $12.

And, of course, a big scrap of cardboard... don't want adhesive residue all over my patio.

The process is pretty simple from here. Just hit the back of the tiles with the adhesive, let them sit for a few minutes, and slap them onto the board.

The six sheets in each pack fit perfectly across the short edges of my mounting board. I wasn't sure it would work out this way, but all three tile sets fit on the single board - with room to spare.

I let the adhesive dry for a few minutes in the warm sun, then took the project back indoors. Then it was a matter of digging out my high-tech, expensive, and hard-to-use special cutting tool:

You might achieve a cleaner cut with a retractable knife, cutting mat, and straight edge. But the scissors worked fine for me. Any rough edges left on the boards disappeared when I applied this finishing touch: tracing around the edges with an old black marker.

As you can see in the photo, spending those few seconds blacking the edges really makes a difference. The "before" tile looks like a picture glued to a mounting board. The "after" one looks like a professional board game.

That's all there is to it. An hour or two is all you need, and it will help you get years worth of gaming from your new HOFFT tile sets.